


in the sunlight and the dust

by kimaracretak



Series: burning planet, humming static [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Foreshadowing, Gen, Jakku, Pre-Relationship, Senator Ben Organa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 09:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak
Summary: Ben has research to do. Finn still isn't sure he likes being stuck with him.





	in the sunlight and the dust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [politicalmamaduck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/politicalmamaduck/gifts).



> For the prompt 'Ancient oracles walk softly at our feet', which is to some extent the theme of ... this entire 'verse, though the ficlet itself may've gotten off the precise track.
> 
> Title from IAMX, 'Mile Deep Hollow'

"Did you send Rey out alone again?"

Ben doesn't have to look up from the crumbling text in front of him to know that Finn is once again hovering in the door to their makeshift library, glowering.

"I didn't _send_ her anywhere," he clarifies, the words as familiar as they had been yesterday and the day before. And then, because they're so familiar, this time he adds, "If you ever stopped sleeping in you would see how she gets in the mornings."

The wood creaks under Finn's feet as he steps forward, and Ben realises too late that he's turned this into a conversation. "I have twenty-three years of seeing the asscrack of whatever passes for dawn on a star destroyer to make up for," he points out.

Ben considers how many sunrise meditation sessions Amilyn has asked him to join her for, and privately concedes that Finn may have a point there. Not that he would ever say it aloud. "Well, she left on her own," he says, stubbornly ignoring the brief flicker of affection that had risen in him at Finn's shared hatred of mornings. "And since she can't read, and I'm still ..." He gestures at his bound ankle, still too much of a hazard to his exploring with the speeder so unreliable.

A cloud of dust rises as Finn sinks into the other chair, heedless of the well-chewed fabric. Ben risks a glance over and can't help but smile at the look of discomfort on his face. "Soft," Finn says by way of explanation.

Ben thinks he should say something to that - he always thinks he should, when he remembers how little Finn and Rey both had growing up. But the words stick in his throat, they always do, and he just stares for long enough that Finn's annoyance that Rey's out alone fades into suspicion. "What?"

"We should find you new clothes," Ben blurts out, suddenly the only thing he can think of. It's only when Finn raises his eyebrows in astonishment that he realises that might not have been a much better thing to say. "I mean," he says, and, oh, stars, is he blushing? "That you can't go out in the daytime dressed like that. It's too hot. And you'll attract attention." The black synthweave of a stormtrooper's underarmour was as good as a death sentence now that Jakku was heading into midsummer.

Finn, however, either isn't following the same trail of thought or doesn't care. "We're in a desert crawling with Sith ghosts and First Order officers and you're worried about clothes, Senator?"

He doesn't even sound _surprised_ , and that might be what stings most, even though part of him knows it would be a valid complaint against far more than half of his colleagues back on Hosnian Prime. "Sure," he says tightly, picking up his pen again. "Sure. Just clothes. Can't have me caring about you or Rey, can we?"

Ben can be unfair too, but he shivers at how easy that had been. He really hates Jakku, never mind that last time he'd sad that out loud Rey had smacked him upside the head hard enough that he'd nearly tripped. There's a darkness on this planet, one that Rey doesn't mind and Finn doesn't notice, and he hates how easily it seems to get its hands around him.

Finn is quiet for a long moment, long enough that Ben would think he had gotten up and left the room if the floorboards weren't so loud. "Sometimes," he finally says, abruptly enough that Ben startles, the words blurring in front of his already-tired eyes. "Sometimes I think you might. And sometimes you're so unpleasant I think you must be something Rey dragged out of the tombs."

At least he's honest, Ben thinks ruefully, but there's something freeing about hearing it from someone else's mouth. About knowing that someone else has seen a fraction of his struggle against the buried Sith oracles, however minute. It makes it easier to not want to sink into the ground with them.

But he stays silent, common sense overriding his brain for the first time this morning even as some of the tension ebbs from the air around them.

"Right," Finn says, and Ben hears the chair exhale another cloud of dust as he rises. "I'm gonna. Go see if Rey needs help with the excavation."

"You do that," Ben says, and though he doesn't turn to watch Finn leave, he smiles, and almost doesn't mind the thought that Finn might know.

He waits until the door's clicked shut again to bare his teeth at the smeared red of the ghost in the corner.


End file.
